Posted on 08/31/2005 8:40:33 AM PDT by Mike Bates
In response to my column on the decline of cable news because of their obsession with missing-person cases, one person wrote in, "Come-On. Get a Grip... What's wrong with a couple of hours 'break' from Real News.."
A couple hours break?
On the other hand, one said, "I am so sick of hearing all of the details of the Aruba fiasco that I just can't tolerate it any more. This Aruba show is sinking Fox News, and I am watching it less and less."
Here's what someone else wrote:
"I just read your article and have to agree completely that the Holloway reporting has gone completely off the deep end. I used to be a junky watching Hard Ball, O'Reilly, Hannity/Colmes and then Scarborough Country until about a month or two ago.
It was getting too much for me to waste that much time but these shows used to be compelling. Especially the first year or so of Scarborough Country. Joe used to be hard-hitting, very conservative and used to expose media bias and liberal hypocrisy. Not any more. Lately he has tried to go head to head and compete with Greta just because they are on at the same time.
(Excerpt) Read more at aim.org ...
"Yeah! Greta in a swimsuit! can't Wait for the calendar!......"
I was just getting ready to go to lunch until the image of Greta in a swimsuit came into my head. Why did you have to ruin my lunch for!?
NE hour = ONE hour
100% correct. It used to be when you heard the "Ding", your heart would skip a beat and you'd zone in on what vital information was coming next. Now it's as annoying as the snooze on the alarm in the morning!
I TiVo Brit and Cavuto. I'll sometimes watch Shep if I want some "lite" news or to have something on in the background while I'm checking out FR on the den laptop.
I really didn't ever think I'd say I find the loofah boy more interesting than Vannity and the Vulture, but other than for something to watch to put me to sleep, I can't stand H&C. They suck! Greta is better than them. And they are like a pre-hash of her show. Less and less politics. Maybe the pols that count don't want to come on anymore, I don't know.
As Bill Maher put it, O'Reilly's show moves along at a clip that never bores. I enjoy it. I like his campaign to get the kiddie rapers put away one strike and out. I don't listen to him on the radio, but I do watch him.
Why can't we get someone other than Fox to rip into the liberals, eh?
Hummana.... hummana.... hummana!!!
It doesn't even phase Mrs. Mn-Bush-Man when she sees me gawking at Juliet. She's HOT! (although the "juvenile" tone that Mike adds to "weekend" drives me nuts sometimes)
Umma Pemmaraju!..........those eyes!.........
Course it's not just Natalee and the family, as compelling as they are, but watching a government snowjob and screwjob right in public while the world watches -- that's what's interesting.
When they first started they had relatively unknowns doing the news and talk shows. It was an absolute breath of fresh air. I loved Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade in the morning. (ED is annoying and boring. She is like inviting your nagging mother to a party. Everyone is having a good time and she has to throw a wet blanket on it.)
Now they have hired so many "anchors" from the very channels that we were trying to escape from. I expect to see Keith Olberman any day now! (John Gibson is the only acquisition who came from MSNBC and is worth it. As for the rest, if I wanted CNN I would watch CNN. If I wanted MSNBC I would watch MSNBC.
Are there still good things about FNC? Sure, but it is rapidly deteriorating.
How about like Patti Ann 3 posts above your?
How about Nancy Grace on CNN.
Same here; almost all the rest is utter tabloid crap, prior to Cavuto, then resuming when Brit's show ends and going for hours and hours.
That's part of live television. You never know when someone is going to turn on the television for the first time that day. It's not like with a newspaper, which has one space for a banner headline and prioritizes everything else accordingly.
And since the 24/7 networks are in disaster mode, they know many viewers will be checking in for updates. FR is a little different in that we have a number of news junkies (myself included) who will watch wall-to-wall coverage. Therefore, the alerts are more annoying to us.
As for Aruba, I agree. That's a story that has been drastically overcovered in my opinion.
If your definition of conservative is Fox, then they are. But I don't consider the Republican agenda, foreign or domestic, to be that conservative.
I would say the decline has been qualitative rather than quantitative. The fact that their ratings are up tends to confirm that they are going for the lowest common denominator viewer. Their fixation with crime stories is sickening.
Rush Limbaugh, Brit Hume, Mark Styne and Charles Krauthammer. Everybody else is just window dressing. Ann Coulter and PJ O'Rourke I find merely entertaining. JMHO of course.
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